


Family Near and Far

by StaciNadia



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: 12 Days of Sterek, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Banter, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Derek Hale is a Softie, Engaged Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Gen, Hale Family Feels, M/M, Minor Melissa McCall/Sheriff Stilinski, Multilingual Derek Hale, Scott McCall & Stiles Stilinski Friendship, Sheriff Stilinski's Name is John, Skype, Sleeping Together, Stilinski Family Feels, Traditions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:26:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28077681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StaciNadia/pseuds/StaciNadia
Summary: Stiles and Derek celebrate Christmas with Cora in South America.
Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Comments: 10
Kudos: 56
Collections: 12 Days of Sterek





	Family Near and Far

**Author's Note:**

> For the [12 Days of Sterek](http://12daysofsterek.tumblr.com/) 2020! This year, I went with Stiles and Derek traveling to South America to celebrate Christmas there with Cora! And of course, there are plenty of feels!

Stiles was _way_ too content and comfortable in bed to want to open his eyes, despite the fact that it was Christmas morning. Warm arms holding him meant that Derek was still in bed with him, and that was all he needed to be happy. Him and Derek.

He finally opened his eyes and glanced over at the clock on the nightstand. It was almost two in the afternoon. So much for Christmas morning. 

Well, they _were_ having a whole new Christmas experience, after all.

Enough light peered in around the curtains that Stiles was able to look around their simple yet charming room. They were spending the holidays in a rustic cabin in the mountains of Chile. Instead of cold weather and hot cocoa and, if they were lucky, snow, they had warmth and sun and Derek’s sister.

Cora had been backpacking through South America for several years, not quite ready to settle down with a pack, whether it was her brother’s, one of distant Hale relatives who had taken care of her in Argentina, or a pack that she had no prior connections with. She’d asked ( _demanded_ ) that her brother and Stiles come to visit her in South America for the holidays, and Derek literally jumped with joy that his fiercely independent sister wanted to spend time with him. Stiles had spent every Christmas with his family, but he couldn’t deny Derek all the happiness he ever wanted.

So there they were, enjoying new holiday traditions and being in a place where even the weather was drastically different from what Stiles was used to.

“Merry Christmas…” came quietly from behind him. Derek had apparently woken up from Stiles’ miniscule shifts in bed.

“Merry Christmas to you, too,” Stiles murmured, turning around and taking in his fiance.

Derek’s eyes were soft from sleep and his smile was fond. His stubble could nearly be classified as a beard because it had grown so much while they were away. Stiles couldn’t help but think yet again how lucky he was and how much he loved the werewolf in front of him. He could not _wait_ until the following May when they would finally be getting married.

“Did you have fun celebrating Noche Buena last night?” Derek asked him, tightening his arms around Stiles. 

“Yeah! It was quite the celebration!” Stiles told him enthusiastically. “And the _food_ , oh my god! I can’t believe that some of the people in town gave us some of their food! Wasn’t it delicious? I‘d make that bread stuff with the fruit in it every year!”

Derek chuckled at Stiles’ reaction. “The pan de Pascua?”

“Yeah!” Stiles nodded. “The lady who made it gave me the recipe! You’ll have to help me translate it! That mass sure was long, though. I wasn’t sure if I was going to make it all the way through!”

“You’re always up till all hours, though, researching for the pack,” Derek pointed out.

This time, Stiles was the one chuckling. “That is very true. Never been up that late for church, though!”

“Me, neither,” Derek said. “Come on. Let’s finally get up and greet the day.”

“Aw, but I thought Christmas Day was for sleeping,” Stiles pouted.

Apparently, in South America and other Latin countries, Christmas Eve, or Noche Buena, was the big holiday, with plenty of food and church services lasting all the way till dawn. Christmas Day was more subdued, with everyone sleeping in. Stiles, who had never been to South America before, was surprised but interested in the new traditions and threw himself into participating in whatever he could.

“I know it’s not freezing cold, but would you still like some hot cocoa?“ Derek asked.

“Oh my god, _yes_!“ Stiles blurted out. It didn’t matter how hot it was, cocoa was a necessity for him at Christmas time. “I’ll go get Cora while you make it!”

“Not a good idea,” Derek warned, heading out of their room. 

“I’ll knock, don’t worry!” Stiles promised, then followed Derek out of the room.

Cora’s bedroom was right next to theirs. As promised, he knocked on the door. “Wakey wakey and Merry Christmas, Cora! Wanna come out and have some Christmas cocoa?” 

The door opened a crack, and Cora‘s glaring face appeared. “Go away, Stilinski!” she growled, her eyes flashing gold. “I’m on a call!” Then the door slammed shut in his face, and he could hear Cora and someone who definitely sounded male talking in rapid Spanish to each other.

Stiles quickly closed the door, his eyes wide. If he wasn’t mistaken, Cora Hale might have been _blushing_. Maybe she liked the dude. He would totally tease her about it if he wasn’t absolutely terrified by her. “I guess I shouldn’t have done that,” he whispered.

Derek chuckled. “I could have told you _that_ , Stiles! I head her talking the whole time,” he said.

Ah, yes, as if Derek couldn’t possibly get any sexier, he was also multilingual. “Ooh, what was she saying?” Stiles asked, leaning on the counter and eyes twinkling with anticipation.

“That’s for her to tell,” Derek told him.

Stiles pouted, then brightened up quickly. “Hey, do you think it’s too early to Skype Dad?” 

Derek looked thoughtful. “Well, it’s just about 2:30 here, so it’s… about 9:30 in the morning there. Would he normally be up then?”

“I think so,” Stiles said. “He told me the other day that he was off all day for Christmas.” He ran to get his laptop from their bedroom, then brought it back out to the main room of the cabin. He sat down on the couch and set up the laptop on the table in front of him.

“He went to Melissa and Scott’s, right?” Derek asked, sitting down next to him.

“Yeah, he’s going there for dinner,” Stiles said, then scowled. “He’d better eat too much fatty food…”

“He’ll be okay,” Derek soothed. “Melissa will watch out for him.”

Stiles nodded. “Here we go,” he said, calling his dad on Skype.

Stiles’ father appeared on the screen. “Merry Christmas, son!”

“Merry Christmas, Dad!” Stiles said, blinking away the wateriness in his eyes. It was the first Christmas that Stiles had ever been away from his father. “I miss you.”

Derek immediately put his arm around Stiles. Silly werewolves and their ability to smell feelings and tears that hadn’t even had the chance to fall. 

“I miss you, too, son,” his father smiled softly at him. “But goodness, it looks like you two just got up!” he added, looking back and forth between the two.

Sheriff John Stilinski, the ever observant.

“We did,” Derek admitted.

“Yeah, we were up really late at the midnight mass they have here,” Stiles continued. “It was pretty amazing, but it went on for a long time, We didn’t go to bed till seven this morning.”

“No wonder you slept so late!” John said.

“I’m glad you didn’t sleep in,” Stiles said. “By the way, don’t think I haven’t noticed that you’re at Mrs. McCall’s house already and not at our place!” he added, waggling his eyebrows suggestively. 

Like father, like son, especially when it came to being observant.

His father looked away, embarrassed. “Yes, well…”

Stiles grinned. He wanted his father happy, and if that was with Melissa McCall, all the better. He and Scott could finally be real brothers after all their years of best friendship. But for today, he wouldn’t tease his dad about it. He was too happy.

“Oh!” he remembered, fixing his father with a stern look. “You’re not going to stuff yourself with too much dark meat or bacon, are you? Mrs. McCall knows better!”

“Of course she does,” Mrs. McCall said, coming into view and sitting next to Stiles’ dad. “I won’t let him go too far off his diet. It _is_ Christmas, after all.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Stiles waved his hand. “Bad cholesterol doesn’t go away just because it’s a holiday!”

Derek put a hand on Stiles’ shoulder. “I’m sure John is in good hands,” he told Stiles, then turned back to the screen. “I’m going to make us some cocoa. You two and Scott have a Merry Christmas!”

“Merry Christmas, Derek!” John and Melissa chorused.

Derek kissed Stiles’ cheek, then stood up and went into the kitchen.

Stiles beamed at his fiance, then turned back to the screen. “You know how I worry about you, Dad!”

John laughed. “I know, son, and I thank you for it. But we have plenty things to take care of, including all the food Melissa‘s making, and I’m sure you two have things planned for your day, too. Oh, and Scott wants to talk to you, too, before you go, so let me leave this with him.”

The Skype view bounced along with John’s steps, then spun around and revealed Scott’s smiling face. “Thanks, Mr. Stilinski!” he called, then turned to face the screen with a big grin on his face. “I totally caught my mom and your dad kissing under the mistletoe,” he whispered conspiratorially. “ _And_ your dad slept over last night!”

Stiles couldn’t help fist pumping. “ _Yes_!” he yelled out, then immediately clasped his hand over his mouth. “Aw, crap, they didn’t hear me, did they?” he asked.

Scott laughed. “I don’t think so. At least, they’re not _saying_ anything that sounds like they did.”

“You never know!” Stiles insisted. “Your mom’s pretty smart…”

“Yeah, she is!” Scott nodded. “But either way, we could be real brothers before too long.”

“Just like we’ve always wanted,” Stiles said.

“I wish I could hug you, bro.”

“Me, too…”

There was a snort from behind Stiles. Stiles whirled around to see Cora standing behind him..

“Are you _laughing_ at our brohood?” Stiles glared at her. “Rude.”

Cora grinned. “I’m just glad that I’m not a boy, and that Laura and I were never like this,” she said. “And at least you haven’t infected my brother too much with your _brohood _, as you put it,” she added, her fingers mimicking quotation marks when she said “brohood”.__

__“She’s just jealous,” Scott said sagely while Cora glared. “But I’d better go. I’m gonna help Mom in the kitchen today!”_ _

__“Good luck, Scotty!” Stiles said. “And I’ll see you when we get back next week.”_ _

__“See ya, Stiles!” And the Skype call was disconnected._ _

__“Jealous of _that_?” Cora scoffed. _ _

__“You wish you were as cool as us,” Stiles sniffed._ _

__“Oh, please, I’m ten times cooler than you, Stilinski,” Cora said, rolling her eyes impressively._ _

____

____

“You wish, Cora,” Derek said, finally coming back into the room with two cups of cocoa in his hands. He handed one of the cups to Stiles, who took it gleefully. “If I knew you were finished with your Skype call, I would have made one for you, too.”

“Yeah, yeah,” she said, taking the other mug out of Derek’s hand.

Stiles snorted. Derek Hale, closet softie. He knew as soon as Derek walked in the room and saw Cora that she’d be getting his cup without question.

After Derek went to the kitchen, Cora turned to Stiles and smirked at him. “You two are so disgusting with all your softness. I’ll be glad to finally get to see you guys get married.”

But Stiles knew that Cora liked to hide her caring behind insults. “Aw, Cora, you do care!” he beamed at her.

Cora flashed her eyes at him once again. “Tell anyone about it and I’ll rip your throat out,” she threatened.

Stiles mimed zipping his mouth shut and throwing away the key. While Derek had never really meant it when he used to say that phrase to him, he had a feeling that Cora just might do it, especially when it came to hiding her secretly squishy insides.

“Soooooo, wanna watch a Christmas movie?” he asked, changing the subject. “A Christmas Story marathons are usually running today.”

“Oh, yeah,” Cora nodded “I remember that one. Go ahead and put it on.”

Cora sat down next to him on the big couch and rubbed her shoulder against him. He grabbed the knitted blanket from the back of the couch and draped it over the two of them, then fiddled with his laptop and started the movie.

A few minutes later, Derek came back in with his own cup of cocoa along with a big bowl of freshly popped popcorn and sat down on the other side of Stiles, wrapping an arm around him. The three of them settled in for a couple of hours of Christmas nostalgia.

**********

When the movie ended, Stiles was warm and happy and comfortable. Despite getting a good night’s rest, a belly full of cocoa and popcorn and sitting between two very warm werewolves under a blanket made for a sleepy Stiles.

He barely even realized that Derek and Cora had left and Stiles had the couch all to himself. He got up, stretched and went off in search of the two siblings.

He found them talking softly in Cora’s bedroom. He peeked in the open door, knowing that they both had probably already sensed that he was there.

Derek was saying, “It sounded pretty serious. Are you sure it’s not something you want to talk to me about?”

“His name is Esteban, and he lives in Argentina.”

Ah, they were talking about the mysterious guy that Cora had been Skyping with earlier.

“From the pack who helped you?” Derek asked.

“No, a different pack. They live in a different city in Argentina.” Then Cora actually sounded a little unsure of herself. “I… really like him, Derek. I think he’s the one I could finally settle down with.”

“Congratulations, Cora!” Derek said. But Stiles knew immediately that something was bothering him. His body had completely stiffened after Cora‘s words.

Cora had noticed Derek‘s change in attitude as well. “Oh, Derek,” she said in a soft voice that she rarely used. “We might end up living in Argentina, but we’ll always come visit you, Derek. You’re family, and you’ll always be my pack. I still have the bonds to the family who helped me, and we‘ll always have a strong bond, too.” She wrapped her arms around him tightly.

“I love you, Cora.” Derek hugged her back even more fiercely.

“Love you, too.”

Stiles smiled. Seeing Derek talk about how he was feeling, even to his own sister, filled him with joy. He had come a long way from the angry man who had lost what he’d thought was his entire family. 

He burst into Cora’s room and wrapped his arms around the two siblings. “Group hug, everyone!” he yelled happily.

“Stilinski, you idiot!” Cora grumbled, shaking her head. But there was a smile on her face as she joined the other two in the group hug. 

This was what Christmas was all about. Family. Stiles was glad that he could spend the holiday with his dad, the Hales, and the McCalls, whether near or far. And as long as they lived, he’d always make time to connect with them during the holidays.

And as he and Derek kissed amid Cora’s groans, he knew that the two of them would be sharing every one of those Christmases side by side.

**Author's Note:**

> It's not said explicitly, but I intended for Derek to be an alpha in this fic. Maybe I'll write about their May wedding... =3
> 
> Come visit me on my [Tumblr](http://stacinadia.tumblr.com/) and/or [Pillowfort](http://www.pillowfort.social/stacinadia)!


End file.
